Question Number: 35737

Law 14 - The Penalty kick 10/4/2024

Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...

Hello,

I'm annoying again. Two penalty kick questions please.

Question 1:

Part of Law 14:
- 'The defending goalkeeper must remain on the goal line, facing the kicker, between the goalposts, until the ball is kicked.'

- When the ball is kicked, the defending goalkeeper must have at least part of
one foot touching, in line with, or behind, the goal line.

It doesn't make sense to me. He must remain on the goal line. But he can also have both feet behind the goal line. So when can he move behind the line? After the whistle?

Note: Yesterday in the match Pilsen vs. Ludogorets goalkeeper Jedlicka stood behind the line almost the entire time. The referee didn't deal with it. VAR didn't deal with it.

Question 2:

Part of Law 14:
'If the goalkeeper’s offence results in the kick being retaken, the goalkeeper is warned for the first offence in the game and cautioned for any subsequent offence(s) in the game'

Does the referee only count penalty kick encroachments? Or others offenses that result from the game? (f.e. handball outside penalty area, back-pass rule, etc.). That sentence in the rules is weird. :-)

Thank you very much!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Petr,
what do you mean again, you mean still? sigh 0)
Your questions are never a pain or annoying!
We recognize your passion and intent to fully grasp every nuance to the best of your abilities and ours! lol!

As in any LOTG change you need to review history and the issues these situation created . The keeper off the line when PKs were notoriously complexed with weirdness as some referees did nothing and the players went ballistic or they retook so often that again players went ballistic.

Consistency, fairness and reality based LOTG factor in the inability to be absolute on managing these minor variations of timing. It is why in offside lore, "When in doubt do not wave it about!" was preached to remind officials of the time lag in seeing and comprehending.

PK law stated the keeper must be on the line and not move UNTIL the ball was kicked & moved. Yet invariably they ALWAYS moved and at minimum stepped at least off the line, often well off to the point of ridiculousness . In cases where the keeper chose the wrong side to dive towards such things were often overlooked even if the PK kicker missed the goal. The thinking was if it had no effect on play ignore it despite what the LOTG actually said.
This reasoning was often applied to encroaching players be it attackers or defenders if the referee felt the act had no effect on the outcome, it was trifling so play on!!

where in the 1998 LOTG (Green Book). The Infringement /Sanctions section of Law 14 reads:
-if the ball rebounds from the goalkeeper, the crossbar or goalpost and is touched by this player, the referee stops play and restarts the match with an indirect kick to the defending team"
The difficulty here was if the goal resulted in additional play from the rebound there was no retake for the encroachment plus as long as the player who encroached did not receive it directly from the goalkeeper, the crossbar or goalpost , technically the g0al was good even though that player had infringed the LOTG earlier.
This bit was taken out the very next year

The fact they screw with the wording is their attempt to clarify and make it fair. Not that it always works. Handling issues still leave me in despair.

The instructions are merely to ensure the keeper is where he needs to be for the referee to signal the PK kicker to go ahead. The one foot on the line is to allow keepers to take that step legally and to be on the goal line. You are overthinking behind the line, if they are behind the line they are not out in front where they are not supposed to be! Now they can step out with either foot at the taking of the kick. If the back foot is slightly behind the goal line as it drags across it is trifling to the outcome, whereas he is out well inside the goal area, or back into the netting it would not be! It is ok to straddle the line as opposed to have the foot on the line
There is no need for the referee to deal with or the VAR as the keeper is where he needs to be for the PK to occur. The only aspect that might be an issue is if the keeper backs off the goal line into the goal and then tries to get a running jump out as the PK kicker advances.

As to the 2nd part of your query

Cautions for the keeper encroachment are only added after the 2nd incident. They get a freebee warning at the 1st offence in regulation or extra time play at normal PKs If the keeper encroached again as a blatant disregard for protocols then that is a cautionable offence and if it was his second cautionable offence given he was cautioned earlier in the match for USB or a reckless action of some sort then the keeper would be cautioned shown the yellow card, then shown the red card & sent off.

Where this changes a bit is in KFTPM. As a separate part to determine a winner because cautions during the match are NOT added to the actions that occur at KFTPM. So if the keeper was cautioned for something else during the match like a SPA and then during KFTPM he encroached he gets a warning, he encroaches again he is cautioned shown a yellow card . He encroaches a 3rd time he is cautioned shown the yellow card then shown the red card for his 2nd caution and sent off! Even though he was shown three yellow cards on the day !

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Petr

Law 14 tells us that the goalkeeper must remain on the goal line, facing the kicker between the goalposts until the ball is kicked.
Referees have become generous is allowing goalkeepers to be somewhat behind the line within touching distance focusing more on the foot position at the moment if the kick.
For me it is somewhat easier to deal with a goalkeeper moving on or behind the line as they can take a step backwards rather than the advancing goalkeeper being forward of the line.
Pro goalkeepers have figured out that to give themselves a sporting chance that if they can make a forward step with one foot on the line that it will not be called even with VAR. That was the whole basis of the one foot change.
We see referees giving instructions to goalkeepers about foot position yet I cannot see any referee after the whistle is blown particularly on a tardy run up by a kicker is going to penalise a goalkeeper for a slight move back and then a step forward with a foot on the line at the moment of the kick.
For me the odds are stacked in favour of the kicker so it is why referees are none too picky about foot position after the whistle. Yeah a referee can get the GK on the line in the set up yet we know its a dynamic situation.

On your second question a goalkeeper gets one warning on penalty kick encroachment and a second encroachment is a caution. A third encroachment is a red card or for that matter any second caution will result in a dismissal in normal play. So a goalkeeper could be cautioned for a reckless challenge, warned about encroachment on a save and then sent off for a second encroachment again on a save.
Teams never bother about on the line or behind the line movements just what happens at the moment of the kick. That is the money shot that gets the focus of the officials.
Its akin to kicker feinting that while kicker never stops the movement is punctuated with staggers and jump and a slow kick after the goalkeeper has committed direction.
So both are stretching the Law to try to achieve a result. Neither get challenged or if they do it is seen to be legal at the moment of the kick.

Cards issued in the game proper do not carry into the penalty shoot out so a goalkeeper starts with a clean slate after the final whistle. So a goalkeeper would need three encroachments making saves or obvious causes of misses in each to be dismissed.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Petr,

Thanks for your question - never annoying!

It's not just you - the wording is messy. They've approached the wording in an unusual direction here, and it's a confusing one. Sometimes the best way to understand a law is to search previous editions of the LOTG to find when it was introduced, then we find the section that discusses the changes.

The relevant version is 2022/23, where the wording was updated to 'When the ball is kicked, the defending goalkeeper must have at least part of one foot touching, or in line with, or behind, the goal line.'

The explanation for the change is that:

Previously, the goalkeeper was required to have part of at least one foot on/above the goal line at the moment when a penalty kick (or kick from the penalty mark) was taken. Consequently, if the goalkeeper had one foot in front of the goal line and one behind it, this was technically an offence even though no unfair advantage is gained. The text has been amended to avoid such a position being penalised. Explanation of this amendment should emphasise that the ‘spirit’ of the Law requires the goalkeeper to have both feet on/above the line until the moment when the kick is taken, i.e. the goalkeeper may not stand behind (or in front of) the goal line.

So, the GK must be on the goal line in the setup for the kick - before the whistle is blown. 'on' the goal line is intended to be more or less, the GK as an entire person, being on the line. Wants to be slightly in front with heels on the line? Sure, that's fine. They can be on the line without their feet being on the line - that is, 1 foot behind 1 in front, ready to leap.

Now, there is a contradiction in the explanation - but what they're trying to get at is the GK must remain more or less on the line. They can't, when the whistle is blown, take a step or 2 back to get a running leap when the ball is kicked.